Keep Walking in Christ – Colossians 2:6–7 (Sept. 20, 2026)

Through third grade, they can go ahead and head out to their class now.

The rest of us, if you would, go ahead and open up your Bibles to the book of Colossians, chapter two.

That's where we're going to be camping out this morning as we make our way through this book this fall, looking at the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus.

I should let you know, too, that I've been hearing frequent updates from our team in Uganda.

Obviously, my wife Stephanie is on that team, and so she's texting and had some opportunities to talk with her.

Just a couple encouragements, I think, even as I think about our morning.

It's so cool to me to think that seven hours ago that the Singhe Baptist Church gathered to worship to do the exact same things that we're doing.

That seven hours ago they sang the Bible, they prayed the Bible, they read the Bible.

Our brother, Pastor Braden Pape preached this morning at Singhe Baptist Church in Uganda.

It's just crazy to me to think about.

Church, I hope that's an encouragement to you.

I mean, to think about the fact, like I watched my wife's flight, like on flight tracker or whatever across, like over the Atlantic Ocean, over the Swiss Alps, over the Mediterranean Sea, over the pyramids in Egypt.

I asked her if she saw any of it.

She did not.

It was dark.

Um they were pretty high up, I hear.

Um, but they're doing the same thing that we are across the globe.

Like God has people gathering this morning across the world.

And when we gather, there's a real sense in which we gather kind of arm in arm uh with our brothers and sisters in Uganda.

And in sense, when we gather, we gather even with the hosts of heaven, Hebrews tells us.

That's a significant thing, what we gather to do.

I should also tell you that they gathered from 8 a.m.

to 1:30 p.m.

today.

Guys, I'm just saying, here we go.

Buckle up.

Uh there's uh there's no more limitations.

If you had lunch plans, cancel them.

No, I'm just kidding.

Uh we'll we'll continue like normal.

They're gathering again right now, just to let you know.

All day, y'all.

So there's some goals for us.

This morning we're gonna look at chapter 2, verses 6 and 7, just two verses.

We really won't go too much past lunch.

Uh, and we're gonna look at what it means to keep walking in Christ.

You know, I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but our staff is currently reading the classic Pilgrim's Progress.

And Pilgrim's Progress is a story of the Christian life, it's an allegory.

The main character is Christian.

And it's sort of, this story is describing Christian's journey.

It's taking the Christian life and sort of making the Christian life into a journey, a pilgrimage, an adventure.

And I've read it numerous times.

But as I'm reading it this time, there's something that's sticking out to me.

There are a lot of dangers in Christian's journey.

There are so many opportunities to get off track or to get snared, to trip up, to lose one's way.

We actually uh talked about it as a staff this past uh week that it is so much easier to stray from the path than to stay on it.

It really is so much easier to stray from the path than to stay on it.

In the uh Pilgrim's Progress, there's darkness and there's valleys and steep climbs, there's forks in the road, there's these alluring sort of rest stops, there's shortcuts that actually only bring disaster.

There's these really deceptive so-called guides, and there are many foes.

Just so many dangers.

And as you read through the book, you just realize it's also just long.

See, I think it's actually a pretty spot-on description of the Christian life.

Now, I imagine when I say that, there's probably a couple different reactions that happen among us.

For some of us, and maybe especially if you're younger in life, or maybe even newer in the faith, when you hear that the Christian life is so challenging, that actually surprises you a little bit.

Like, wait a second, is it really that difficult?

I think about maybe if you thought about some young kids kind of taking their first real hike into the mountains.

You can imagine maybe a guide or some parents kind of getting down and being like, okay, here's the deal.

You gotta stay on the path.

Like, you gotta slow, steady, just keep walking on the path.

And I can imagine, maybe especially if it were my boys, them looking at me and saying, Yeah, we got it.

It's a pretty big path.

It's pretty easy to stay on it.

And then you can think about as they start to walk that path and it gets narrower and narrower.

Starts to get steeper and steeper.

Start to be some times where there's some significant drop-offs to the left, and then as you get further into the mountains and the forces, there's starting to be more and more bugs and other creatures, snakes and other little animals and things like that, and then there starts to be some big creatures.

Every once in a while, a bear and things like that.

It gets slippery.

And you can imagine them starting to think, well, wait a second, it's all we can do to stay on the path.

That's like that's our whole focus.

Well, friends, that's a little bit what the Christian life is like.

And I imagine that many of us, that's our response.

Some of us who are older in life or maybe uh have walked and journeyed in the Christian life for a while, we are all too aware of the dangers and difficulties that we might face.

Right?

For many of us, we've seen them.

And in fact, we haven't just seen them, we've actually seen the casualties.

I mean, maybe I'm just getting a little bit older, but the longer you walk in Christ, what begins to happen, the list of those who used to be walking on the way with you, companions on the road, who are no longer walking with Christ, that list seems to increase.

Honestly, it's one of the things that's hardest for me as I grow in the Christian life is to see other friends, peers, people I know, even pastors that I don't know, but people that I've learned from who have gotten sidetracked, who are no longer walking on that path.

See, I imagine that some of us, we actually look at the Christian life and we're all too aware of its dangers.

We're almost like the parents of those little first-time hikers were like, dangers everywhere.

There's no problem for us of thinking that the Christian life is uh easy.

Our problem is wondering whether it's actually possible.

Christian, do you ever feel that way?

Maybe the longer you walk with Christ, are you ever worried that you won't make it to the end?

Are you ever worried that you might be like another statistic in some sense that we hear so often about?

And I know that that's in my heart from time to time.

Maybe for you, you're all the more anxious about your kids, the next generation.

How are they gonna continue to walk in Christ?

Will they make it to the end?

You know, when you think of the depths of your sin, the constant barrage of temptation, the rising tide of technology and entertainment that just wants to drown everything, when you think of the growing opposition, even in our own country, to the truth and values of the Christian faith, when you think of just normal, everyday sufferings of a fallen world, do you wonder?

How do we last?

How do we keep going?

How do we make it to the end?

Well, friends, I have good news for you.

We've now made it to the body of Paul's letter to the Colossians.

All that we've seen before has been the introduction, but now we are in the body.

And here's what Paul is going to do in these first two verses of the body, verses six and seven.

He's going to give us the answer.

He's going to tell us how it is that we must and can endure in the Christian life.

In some ways, these two verses are an introduction, a little appetizer.

And all the way from verse 6 of chapter 2 to verse 6 of chapter 4, the next full two chapters, he's going to describe all the applications that are going to come from the truth that we're going to look at this morning.

And here's that truth, here's that main idea.

Christian, you have received Christ.

So keep walking in him.

Christian, you have received Christ.

So keep walking in him.

That's what we're going to look at this morning.

Hopefully you have your Bible open to Colossians 2.

If you don't have a Bible with you, there's one under a chair around you.

You can also find the passage in your bulletin.

Just two verses, verse 6 and verse 7.

Let's look at it together.

Paul says, so then, therefore, in light of all that's become come before, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him.

Being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught and overflowing with gratitude.

Point one that I want us to see this morning is you've received Christ.

See, Paul begins with a summary statement, if you will, if you think about it, uh this idea that verse six begins with, so then, or therefore.

Whenever you see a therefore, you need to understand what it's therefore.

And Paul is telling us, in light of everything that he's just said, here's what should come.

And what's his summary of the entire first chapter of Colossians?

Verse 6, you have received Christ Jesus as Lord.

Now, friends, this might seem obvious, but it needs to be said.

There's no walking in Christ without first receiving Christ.

We can't walk in Christ if we're not in Christ.

Friends, that's a needed reminder.

And maybe for you this morning, you're like, well, that seems pretty obvious, but I think it needs to be said.

And here's why you might need to hear that this morning.

Because you might be here this morning, and maybe you think something like this well, I don't really need Jesus.

Maybe you're here this morning, you're like, well, I'm here for my spouse, or I'm here for my kids, I'm here for a friend.

I recognize there are a lot of people that maybe Jesus is really helpful for.

They need Jesus, but I'm really getting along okay.

I don't really need Jesus.

And Paul is telling us right from the outset of this verse, there is no Christian life without Christ.

There is no Christian life without Christ.

Now, maybe most of us we go, well, that's bold.

We maybe wouldn't say that we don't need Jesus.

And yet I think even for us, church, if we're honest, we can forget our need of Christ too, can't we?

I mean, think about that word need for a moment.

It's a word that maybe is thrown around a lot in our culture.

A lot of times we don't need what we actually think we need, but when we use that word need, you might think of someone that needs gas for a vehicle.

I imagine that might be many of us right now, because none of us want to pay at the pump.

So maybe your gas tank's getting closer and closer to E right now as you look at prices.

And what that means is eventually if you need gas for your vehicle, you can't go anywhere until you get that gas.

Or maybe you're like me, I sometimes work from home.

If you lose electricity, or maybe even worse, you lose Wi-Fi in your house, that dreaded loss of Wi-Fi for no reason at all, it seems.

Like I can't do anything until the Wi-Fi gets on, until the electricity goes on.

That's what it means to need something.

To need something means that you can't continue unless you have it.

That means to need Christ means that you can't continue.

You can't live without Him.

Church, I know it's such a simple reminder, but it's really helpful.

Because I think every single one of us, every single one of us, we live at times as if we can live in the Christian life in our own strength.

I I think some of us are guilty of thinking, well, yeah, we we needed Christ.

But now I got it.

Don't you do that sometimes, Christian?

Sometimes don't you go throughout the day doing all sorts of things?

And at the end of the day, you're like, I don't think I prayed.

I don't remember asking Jesus for help or strength or grace or power or wisdom today.

I don't even remember thinking much of Jesus.

We live so much of our lives without really recognizing that we need Christ.

It's such a basic truth.

If we want to endure, if we want to keep on the path, we need Christ.

So what does it mean then when Paul says we receive Christ Jesus as Lord?

Well, I want us to look at the second half first.

We need to know who it is that we receive.

And Paul tells us, look at these four words Christ Jesus as Lord.

Now, I think it's really helpful to remember some things.

When we read Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus, that's not just his name.

I think that's how we generally think about it.

It's actually a title.

And in fact, it was really up until recent years that names didn't function that way.

Like now, names primarily function to identify different people, but it names used to function to tell you what those people did or they told you about those people.

So for example, my last name is Stricklin.

And the the word stirk in kind of an older English is another name for a young cow, a little older than a calf.

So here's what I put together some things.

I can guess, I don't know for sure, I haven't gone back into the annals of my ancestors, but I'm guessing that at some point in time, my ancestors were farmers in England.

That they had land with a lot of stirks on it.

Stirk land, or now strick land.

That's how I got my name.

So here's what the Bible is telling us is when Jesus is named Jesus, that means something.

The name itself means Savior.

And the gospel tells us that Jesus is named Savior because he's the one who has come to save his people from their sins.

And he's not named Jesus Christ, he's named Jesus the Christ.

The word Christ means Messiah or anointed one.

It means, as uh David told us earlier, that all of the promises of the Old Testament, all of the Old Testament was awaiting this one, this Christ.

That's Jesus.

So Paul tells us to receive Jesus is to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Do you see what he says there?

He says, Jesus Christ as Lord.

And when Paul uses that idea of Lord, he doesn't just mean master.

That's sometimes how that word is.

But here he means that Jesus is divine, that he is God and King.

So to receive Jesus then is to receive him as Savior, God, and King.

Now here's the problem for us, I think.

Is that just seems so normal to us?

It's almost just pedestrian.

I mean, I just said it and most of our hearts barely registered.

Here's why I think we need to chew on God's word more.

Why we need to meditate on it, why we need to digest it in our hearts, because I think sometimes our danger, especially as we walk with Christ longer and longer, is our hearts begin to get a little bit cold to the most unimaginably glorious truths there are.

To see Jesus is to see God.

That Jesus is the firstborn, not meaning that he was born first, but he's first in rank, first in authority of all creation.

That everything was created by Jesus.

Heaven, earth, visible, invisible, rulers, thrones, dominions, everything created by him.

Let me give you a hint.

If something's created, if you create it, you're greater than the thing you create.

It means Jesus is greater than everything.

And not only was it created by him, Paul tells us all was created for him.

And that he is before all things.

And that by him all things hold together.

Not only has Jesus created everything, he has sustained everything.

You have breath in your lungs right now because of Jesus.

He is the firstborn from the dead.

Jesus became a human being.

He died the death that we deserved, and then he resurrected from the dead, and he was the firstborn, which means that we who are in Christ will resurrect from the dead after him.

Because Jesus is raised, so we will raise.

All the fullness of God dwells in him.

He has reconciled us to God.

He has brought us into a right relationship with God.

How?

Through his death.

This is the one whom we receive.

This Jesus, this Savior, this Lord, this King.

Friends, it's a it's a massive thing to consider.

But what does it mean to receive?

Friends, I think this may be the most foundational question of the passage.

Certainly at its heart lies our very salvation.

How is it that we receive Christ Jesus as Lord?

Well, I want us to think about just a few things about this word receive.

The first truth that I think is evident in the word receive is that receiving is the opposite of achieving.

To receive is different than to achieve.

Receiving is always a responsive action.

Just think about the nature of this word receive.

We receive only that which has first been given.

Now think about some of the applications.

That means we don't make Jesus Savior, God, and King.

No, he is Savior, God, and King.

We receive Him.

That means we don't earn our salvation.

No, no.

Christ is our salvation.

We receive Him.

That means we don't go out and try to obtain salvation or take it.

No, no.

Christ has earned our salvation through his life, death, and resurrection.

We receive Him.

See, the very notion of receiving, the very notion of receiving is saturated with God's grace.

Salvation is not something we go out and get.

Jesus is not something we go out and get.

No, no, no.

It's a gift that's been given to us.

He has given himself to us.

He has come to us.

What do we do?

We receive.

That's the first thing that we see about receive.

Second truth that we see about receive, receiving is the opposite of rejecting.

Now I think this is pretty obvious, even if you think about maybe hand motions here for a second, to reject has this sort of idea.

Imagine if someone came to your home, I hope you wouldn't necessarily do this, but maybe there'd be times that you would do this.

If someone came to your home, if you were to reject them, you'd push them away in a sense like this, and they would stay outside of your home.

That's rejecting.

But receiving someone usually is like this, or right?

You they enter into your home.

Or maybe you might think about a receiver in football.

If you think about a receiver, what do they have?

They have hands open, out here, ready to get the ball.

And then they grasp the football in their hands, and then they take the football and they bring the football into them so that the football is now their football.

For some of you who maybe aren't massive football fans, I do think it's a helpful image.

Just think about it for a little bit.

Just a helpful picture of faith.

What does faith do?

Faith reaches out, sees that Jesus is God, uh, Savior, God, and King.

And then faith doesn't just reach out, faith grasps onto Christ, agrees that Jesus is God, savior, and king.

But not just that.

Faith then brings Christ in.

And faith says, Jesus is my savior.

My God.

And my King.

That's what it means to receive.

That's what it means to receive Christ Jesus as Lord.

Friends, there is a world of difference between saying that Christ Jesus is God, Savior, and King.

And saying that He is my God, my Savior, and my King.

See, what Paul is saying to the Colossian church is that you have received Christ.

And here's the question that we have to answer this morning.

The first primary question we must answer.

Have you?

Can you say Christ is mine?

Do you know Jesus as your Savior?

His death to sin, your death to sin, his resurrection to life, your resurrection to life?

Do you know Jesus as your God, your treasurer, your creator, your sustainer, the one by whom you were made, and the one for whom you were made?

The one who guides, protects, comforts, sustains, and shepherds you?

Do you know Jesus as your King?

The one who has your complete allegiance.

The one whose will and ways you are seeking to obey.

The one who is the yes and amen to all of God's promises.

The one who promises to return and fully, finally, and forever bring you home.

Have you received Christ Jesus as Lord?

Friend, if you haven't, I pray you would today.

Today is the day.

Friend, I pray you that you would receive Christ.

If we are to walk in Christ, we must first receive Christ.

See, Christian, you have received Christ.

And so that brings us to Paul's second point.

So keep walking in him.

That's the second point.

So keep walking in him.

Now, here's what I want to tell you.

We now come to, right here in this part of verse 6, we come to the first command in the entire letter of Colossians.

Do you know there's not one command in the first 35 verses of this letter?

For 35 verses, Paul has just been laying out to us rich truth after rich truth, statements about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and who we are in Christ.

And now, he says, and here's how you live.

Church, I think that alone should be a reminder to us.

It's a reminder, I think we've already seen, we've talked a little bit about.

We live for Christ out of who we are in Christ.

The call of Christian living is this be who you are in Christ.

That's always the call.

Notice it even in our passage, Paul does not say, walk in Christ so that you might receive him.

I don't know.

Just as you have received him, continue to walk in him.

Do you see the logic of the text?

You've received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in him.

But I do think there's another ditch that I want to make sure that we don't fall in as well.

Because scripture here isn't giving us a suggestion, it is a command.

It is the first command in Colossians.

If we've received Christ, Paul is saying we must walk in him.

Friends, I think we see this reality in God's word so often.

We can't claim to have received Christ and yet have little or no interest in actually living in him.

Hear this: true Christians won't ever walk perfectly in Christ.

But they will genuinely walk in Christ.

And that's a really significant reminder.

A tree without uh fruit is a dead tree.

A plant that isn't growing isn't living.

A Christian who isn't seeking to walk in Christ isn't a Christian.

Now, I hear this.

I'm not trying to fill us with doubt, church.

But I do think we need to understand that this is not a game we play.

There's no toying around with Christ.

If you're here this morning and you believe yourself to be a Christian, you claim that you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, but your actual day-to-day life reflects nothing of him.

Here's what I think Paul would want you to hear.

You haven't received Christ.

I think that's what he would want you to hear.

You can't say, I've received Christ as Lord and not live under his lordship at all.

To receive Christ is to walk in Christ.

These two things go hand in hand.

So I think that then brings us to an all-important question, right?

What does it actually mean to walk in Christ?

What does it mean to walk in Christ?

Well, first, and I think probably maybe pretty obvious to most of us, to walk in Scripture is just a metaphor for living.

To walk in Christ is to live in Christ.

But again, I think it's a pretty brilliant metaphor.

In some ways, walking kind of perfectly encapsulates two really primary aspects of the Christian life.

First, to live the Christian life is to walk according to God's will and ways.

Walking has this sort of idea of a direction or path to walk in Christ is to live a life that aligns with God's word, that uh live a life in light of who Christ has called us to be.

But you know what?

Walking in Scripture isn't just living according to God's ways, it's also living in his presence.

I think that's so important.

Very few of us ever walk alone.

We do a lot more in the digital age, but for hundreds of years before we had these things and things that went in our ears, we used to walk with people.

And walking was a sign of companionship.

And so when you read in Genesis 3, that God came to walk in the cool of the day, something that he had done regularly with Adam and Eve, there's this sort of companionship to walking with God.

Or when you read in Genesis 5.24 of Enoch having walked with God, it certainly means God's ways, but it also means God's presence, a companion walked with God.

Really, in some ways, these two things are combined in the Lord's admonition to Abraham in Genesis 17.1.

Here's what he said to Abraham walk in my presence and be blameless.

Do you see those two things together?

See, if we take this word walk in the context of the whole of Scripture, we would think that to walk in Christ is to live all of life and light of Christ's presence with us and Christ's pronouncements to us.

But you know what?

Paul gives us more details in this passage.

Paul actually is going to explain over the course of the next two chapters precisely what it looks like to walk in him.

What it looks like to walk in Christ.

But here he gives us just a little introduction, just a little taste.

That's what we're gonna see this morning.

The next two months, we're gonna just see this applied in every single aspect of life.

But here we're gonna get a little summary of it.

And Paul uses, look at verse 7.

He uses four key verbs to describe how it is that we continue walking in Christ.

He uses rooted, built up, established, and overflowing.

Now, I want to look at these together in order.

First, rooted.

Now, interestingly, uh, this is the only one of these verbs that's in the past tense.

You could read this as having been rooted.

Right?

This is this is what Paul is trying to say that if we've received Christ, then we have been rooted in Christ already.

We are firmly rooted in him.

Now, I think this idea, this image of roots is really helpful as well.

Just so many good images in Paul's teaching.

Think about what holds up a tree.

Like what stabilizes a tree?

It's its roots, right?

What nourishes a tree?

What grows a tree?

It's its roots.

I want you to think about this.

What's the most important thing about the roots?

It's where they're located.

It's not the roots themselves, it's the soil in which they're planted.

You could have these wonderful roots.

Maybe if you've ever seen a tree uprooted and you could see these massive, glorious roots, but if they're out of the soil, they're dead.

They're weak, they're fragile.

What's most important about roots is what they're rooted in.

That's what Paul is trying to tell us this morning.

He's reminding us that we are rooted in Christ, and so we walk only as we remain rooted in Christ.

Maybe you think of Jesus' own words in John 15, 5.

Here's what Jesus says: He says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

He says, the one who abides or remains in me, and I in him, produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

See, we walk in Christ only as we abide in Christ.

Now, how do we abide in Christ?

Well, Jesus is going to continue into John 15, and he's going to say that we abide in Christ as Christ's word abides in us.

Here's how John Flavil, a Puritan pastor, said it.

He said, Keep the word and the word will keep you.

Keep the word and the word will keep you.

Church, are we digging our roots deep in God's word?

That's what it looks like to continue to keep walking in Christ.

So that's the first one, rooted, but secondly, built up.

And here Paul switches from the past to the present tense.

You can think of this as being built up.

Church, we are being built up in Christ.

Now, uh, if you even think about that sort of being built up, that's a progression.

Do you see why walking is helpful?

When you walk, generally speaking, take a treadmill out of the equation, you're moving somewhere, you're progressing.

The Christian life is a progression, being built up.

And Paul now goes from an agricultural metaphor rooted to an architectural metaphor being built up.

But you can see how these two things work together, right?

Because you only build upon a foundation.

And Paul has already told us that we are rooted or founded in Christ.

And so we are now built up on Christ and built up into Christ.

Now, friends, again, I think this image may be particularly helpful for us in our current location in Westfield.

We are not the Roman Empire of the first century, and yet we do not lack for uh examples of things being built up.

Like, honestly, it's like one of my favorite things for our family to do as we drive around town is to be like, oh, there's a new building going in there.

Oh, oh man, that has gone up pretty quickly.

Like everywhere we look, we're like, oh, there's something new that's being built.

And my favorite part of the thing of watching these things being built up is this.

When you first pass by early on, it's like barely a foundation.

And you start, you just get like a little hope.

Like, ooh, what's going in there?

You don't really know, you can't really tell, that sort of thing.

And then as it starts to get built up and you start to get some things, maybe you start to go, oh, it's gonna be a restaurant.

Oh, it's gonna be a store or this place or whatever.

Or like, oh, it's gonna be another bank.

Like, there'd be, if you're in the finance, it's fine.

I know some of you, a lot of you work at banks, it's fine.

There's a lot of them.

Um and you know, there's some excitement, there's some lack of excitement in that sort of area.

But it's so cool to be able to see, as things are built up, you start to see, oh, that's what they're gonna be.

That's what they're becoming.

Church, do you know that that's true of us?

Do you know what that's that's what Paul is saying?

To us right now, to the Colossians, we're being built up in Christ.

And some of us, it's like, oh man, we can't really tell yet what Christ is doing and making us into.

But as we've been a church now for four years and walk together, some of us are like, oh, I can start to see some things.

And uh, some of us are like, oh man, really, I can see what Christ is doing and what he has done.

It's such a cool thing.

Friends, it's one of my favorite things about being a pastor.

It's like I get to look around, and I'm not gonna embarrass any of you, I'll do be a little bit more vague in general, but I can look around at each of you and go, oh man, like I see Christ actually making in our midst right now, building up more patient and present fathers.

Like I can look around and I can see Christ building up more bold evangelists, people who are who are becoming more and more bold and thinking, oh yeah, I can share my faith in Christ with others.

Like, I want to tell other people about Jesus.

I I can look around and I can see people like who pretty early on were like, ah, new people, okay, and now are starting to welcome new people.

Maybe not 30 a day, but like a few, and even welcoming not just here on a Sunday morning, but starting to welcome them into their homes.

Starting to welcome them into their lives.

They're starting to say, oh man, what a gift of hospitality they Christ is building up in them.

I'm starting to look around, I'm starting to see people who are getting hungry for God's word, for real good theology, these sorts of all sorts of ways.

That Christ is building us up as a people.

Friends, that's what's being talked about here.

And you know what's amazing is that Paul primarily isn't thinking about this individually.

Every single you that you read in here, you are rooted, you are being built up.

It's really a y'all.

I had a professor, he's from the South, so he said this.

He's like, I think they should have y'all translations.

These are second plural, these are second person plurals.

It's you all, or you guys in the Midwest.

That's what he's saying.

You all are being built up.

When scripture talks about us being built up, primarily it thinks about us being built up into a temple or or a spiritual house of living stones, of being built up into God's family.

Man, can you see how he's doing that in our midst?

And you think about over the last four years, just in our short time as a church, how he is building a people of God, making us more whole and full.

Let me give just a really bottom floor example.

Some of us remember where we had two people on the music team.

That's it, just two that could play and sing.

Now we have like 22 plus.

Now, like every week you're like, I didn't even know they could play something.

Uh they're coming.

And here's the Lord's bringing in musicians to help us, and he's bringing in people of all sorts just to fill these gaps and sort of make us into this people.

That's what Paul's talking about.

That's what it looks like to walk in Christ is to be built up in Christ's likeness, but also to find our place more and more among Christ's people.

It's not all that Paul says.

Built up, rooted, built up, and established.

Again, present tense.

We are being established.

You can think about it.

As we get rooted, digging our roots deeper into the soil of Christ, and as we're being built up by Christ, what happens?

Start to get established.

That's a great word.

Sense of permanence, strength.

Like we can think about that even right now as a church.

I don't think it's a surprise.

We would love to have a permanent location.

Like we're praying, we're seeking for a permanent location.

Some ways may just make it a little bit easier on Sunday mornings, maybe it gives us a little opportunity to do some more things.

But I think a huge heart behind that is it gives us a permanency here.

It establishes us, in a sense, uh in this culture and area.

Well, that's what Paul is talking about for us.

But what would that look like for us as Christians?

What does it mean to be established?

Well, Paul tells us, established in what?

In the faith.

Well, what faith are you talking about?

The faith which you were taught, Paul says.

You might think of Jude 3, uh, when Jude says this, the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.

You're being established in that faith, Christian.

That's what it looks like to walk in Christ.

And I think when we think about that, there's some level of assurance, right?

It's not always the case, but I think it is mostly the case.

As we keep walking in Christ, so we're firmly rooted, remain in Christ, as we're being built up in Christ, we didn't do tend to have more assurance in Christ.

We're growing in, being assured that we are in Christ, that we're being established in the faith as we keep walking in him.

And then the last thing that Paul tells us rooted, being built up, established, and overflowing.

He even sets this one off from the rest a little bit.

There's a just as you have been taught in between there.

It might even seem like to you, like, well, maybe this was just like an afterthought.

Like this is just like the cherry he threw on the top at the very end that you could like maybe take or not take.

But I don't think that's the case at all.

I actually think it's it's the thing.

And in fact, it might be the most noticeable characteristic of keeping walking in Christ.

Think about it this way.

Maybe you know some people with a distinctive walk.

Right?

Maybe, maybe you grew up watching some of this.

It was like a big thing in my era of TV and movies.

Like you'd have like an older sibling or like a friend that would try to teach their younger brother or sister, like, here's how you walk cool.

Or like maybe today, like, here's here's how you put a little swag in your walk.

Like, there's a there's a certain walk, you kind of watch them try and do that.

Maybe you got some friends that have a distinctive walk, or maybe you can think of some celebrities that have a distinctive walk, good or bad.

Well, here's what Paul's saying Christians have a distinctive walk.

And it is very noticeable.

And what is that distinctive walk that Paul says?

Gratitude.

To walk in Christ, Paul says, is to overflow in gratitude.

Church, I think we need to be reminded this a sour-faced, quick-to-complain Christian is an oxymoron.

It's the complete opposite.

Gratitude, I've said it before, Paul has said it in the first chapter, is the very hallmark of the Christian faith.

Think of Paul's example.

If you're just trying to understand, but what does that look like in practice?

Paul's thrown out of a city.

People threw stones at him, they kicked him out of a city.

What does he do?

Praises God that he gets to go to somewhere else and preach the gospel.

You throw Paul in prison, and he's like, Oh, now I get to share the gospel with these uh prisoners and fellow guards.

You put Paul on house arrest, he's like, Oh, now I have time to write encouraging letters to churches and people I haven't yet been able to visit.

Paul was always grateful.

I'm sure not always.

But he gives this example of the Christian life of being grateful in all circumstances.

And do you know why?

It's because there was nothing that came Paul's way in which he didn't see God's hand.

I actually think that might be the secret of gratitude.

I think the secret of gratitude is when we begin to see everything connected to Christ.

Every good gift that we have is a gift from him.

It's just a little taste of the goodness of our Creator.

Every sorrow is a needed reminder that we aren't truly home, that our real rest is in Christ alone.

Every sin against us is an opportunity to actually show the grace and mercy that we've received in Christ.

Every one of our sins that has been brought to our attention is this kind gift of God to show our need continually for his grace and his care.

See, to walk in Christ is to look back and see everything that Christ has brought us through.

And it's to look forward and trust everything that he will bring us to.

The Christian life is to walk in gratitude.

That's the distinctive walk of a Christian.

I think it's important for us.

Why are we not more grateful?

Don't miss that word overflowing.

The idea that Paul says is that our gratitude overflows from us.

In some ways, I think the reason we'd have to say, well, why are we not more grateful is probably because we have ignored or neglected all that Christ is and has and will do in and for us.

See, Paul describes walking in Christ as being rooted, built up, established, and overflowing with gratitude.

That's what it looks like to walk in Christ.

But can I give you one last thought?

All of these four verbs are in the passive voice.

Warning, little quick English lesson, if you'll permit me.

Here's what the passive voice is.

Okay?

The passive voice means that the subject receives the action rather than performing it.

I hope you see the gold in that little footnote of grammar.

Because here's what that means, church.

We are recipients of all of these things.

Who's the performer?

God is.

We don't root ourselves, build up ourselves, uh, establish ourselves, overflow in gratitude.

You can't make yourself more grateful.

No, no, these are things that we receive.

Christ has rooted us in him.

He's building us up in him, he's establishing us in him, he makes our hearts overflow with gratitude.

We are first and foremost recipients, which means we receive.

See the overarching logic now of these two verses?

Just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him.

You are saved by God's grace.

So, Christian, you walk by God's grace.

You are saved receiving Christ.

We walk by receiving all things from Christ.

Christian, you have received Christ.

So keep walking in Him.

Yes, the journey of the Christian life is perilous.

It is fraught with temptations and trials.

If we were left to our own resources, we would be very warranted in our fears and our worries and our anxieties.

We'd have no reason to think that we would ever make it.

But here's the good news: we are not left to our own resources.

No, the one who put us on the path by his life, death, and resurrection is the one who keeps us on the path.

By rooting us, building us up, establishing us, making our hearts overflowing with gratitude.

We walk in Christ's church.

Here's how one key theologian summarizes it.

He says, the way forward is not through addition, but through deepening.

I mean, I hope you hear that this morning.

The Christian life is not finding the newest or latest spiritual habit or fad or practice or experience.

No, it's about remaining, abiding, holding fast to Jesus.

It's going deeper in Christ.

It's walking on the same worn, glorious paths of Christ.

Here's how Spurgeon, great preacher, summarized this passage.

He says, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

There's the passage.

He says, Persevere in the same way which you have begun.

And he says, here's how you begun.

At first, Christ Jesus was the source of your life.

Your very life was because of Christ.

He was the principle of your action.

All that you did was because of Christ.

He was the joy of your spirit.

Do you remember when you first received Christ Jesus as Lord?

The life, the wanting, the desire to live in Christ, the joy.

Here's what Spurgeon says.

So let him be the same even till life's end.

The same when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death and enter into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of God.

That's what Spurgeon, that's what uh Paul is saying.

Just as you have received Christ, so keep walking in Him.

Let's pray.